


Secrets Have a Time Limit

by BuzzCat



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, because it's the holidays and nothing makes me write fluff like Christmas, the avengers are basically a big family okay, there's a huge family motif here, this whole fic is about family and I have no regrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 09:45:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5452172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuzzCat/pseuds/BuzzCat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy Lewis keeps a secret a little longer than suggested, Thor spills the beans because he's the god of fertility and knows these things, and JARVIS is excited to be a big brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secrets Have a Time Limit

**Author's Note:**

> So a lot of the time we forget that Thor is also the god of fertility. Also, dude is pretty protective of his littler sister. Everyone is protective of Darcy. Natasha will mess someone up for Darcy.

Darcy hummed absentmindedly as she pulled the tray of cookies out of the oven. Andy Williams Christmas music played softly over JARVIS’s speakers and Darcy felt the kind of peace she always found at Christmas; the kind that came at night when the snow fell softly and the winds were silent, when the cookies were warm and kitchen empty but for her. Darcy walked over and stood in front of the window, watching snow lightly fall over the city. She took a deep breath and smiled when she felt two arms wrap around her waist, accompanied by a familiar voice,

“There are some perks to living in an 80-story building, aren’t there?” he said smugly. Darcy leaned back against Tony’s shoulder,

“Yeah, this view is pretty great.” She took another deep breath and as they stood there, Darcy felt Tony solid and still behind her. It was something about Christmastime that always helped Darcy feel at peace and if Tony felt even a portion of that piece, Darcy would be grateful. The oven dinged and Darcy turned back to the kitchen. Tony let her go as she went to take out the cookies; he snatched one off of the plate and moaned,

“Sugar cookies…how do you make _sugar cookies_ taste so good?” he asked. Darcy smiled,

“Magic and love. And don’t talk smack about sugar cookies, they’re my favorite.”

“Sugar cookies? But they’re so…unimaginative.” Tony said in distaste even as he popped another into his mouth. Darcy took plate from in front of him and put it on a different counter,

“They have potential. You can decorate them, shape them. It’s food you’re _supposed_ to play with.” Darcy replied. Tony made a disgruntled noise. Darcy put the next tray in the oven and set the timer, wiping imaginary flour from her hands onto her black apron. She was biting her lip as she stared at the cookies baking and Tony frowned,

“That’s not a good sign.”

“Hm?” asked Darcy as she looked up. Tony closely inspected her face,

“That biting-lip. That means something’s wrong. What’s up?” Tony said. Darcy wiped her hands on her apron again, fiddling with it until Tony took her hands in one of his, “Darcy. What’s wrong?”

“There’s…a thing.” she said.

“’A thing’?” Tony echoed. Darcy nodded,

“Now you need to do me a solid and don’t shout. Jane is just down the hall and I just got her step away from the science an hour ago.”

“Darcy, she’s a grown woman. Not a kid taking a nap.” Darcy nibbled on her lip some more and Tony put a hand on her cheek, “Darcy, you’re freaking me out. What is it?”

“I’m…um…” Darcy mumbled something to her feet and Tony frowned,

“Going to have to say that again, shortstack.”

“I’m,” The next word seemed to get stuck in Darcy’s throat before she managed to throw it out, “pregnant.”

“Oh.” Tony said and somehow he had expected damn near anything but that. Darcy sighed and finally looked him in the eye, rubbing at the back of her neck,

“Yeah. So that’s…a thing.”

“But we always use condoms and you’re on the pill.” Tony said. Darcy snorted,

“Dude, look at our lives. Statistics and probabilities don’t really apply.” she said. Tony couldn’t disagree with that.

“And I don’t suppose that some angel appeared and…”

“Nope. No immaculate conception here. In fact, I don’t know that there’s anything immaculate about this conception. It involved you and me, and we really aren’t immaculate people.”

“Okay. And…” He didn’t know how to ask his next question, but Darcy sighed and read his mind,

“Yeah. It’s yours.”

“Oh. Just…thought I’d check.” Tony said. He could tell that his absorb-the-news grace period was about up and it was time for a definitive reaction. The kind that either meant or anger or excitement or…something. But Tony had nothing. The shock still reverberated in him and different thoughts chased each other through his mind. Darcy heavily pregnant in his bed; Howard yelling at him that he was a disappointment; his mother smiling kindly at him; Darcy holding a blue-eyed baby that had his nose. He nodded slowly, “Okay. Um…”

“Look, I know we’ve only been going out about eight months and this is totally unexpected, and I’m still not sure what I’m going to do, but if you could get back to me soon with some kind of response, I’d appreciate it.” Darcy nodded to herself, took out the last sheet of cookies, put them on the counter, and walked away. Tony heard her bedroom door close behind her and he sank onto one of the stools at the bar. Darcy was pregnant. With his spawn. He was going to be a dad.

 

Meanwhile, in the other room, Darcy was working very hard on taking deep breaths as she undressed,

“JARVIS, privacy mode please.”

“Of course, Miss Lewis.” She caught her reflection in the mirror and by now, she knew it wasn’t her imagination that saw the extra swell in her belly. She’d known that she was pregnant for a couple months. By now, she was fourteen weeks pregnant, out of the danger zone for miscarriage and Darcy had lied when she said she didn’t know what she would do with it; Darcy was going to keep the baby. If she had to move out of the tower, convince Jane to take a seven month position somewhere far away so she could have the baby and get her feet under her, Darcy would keep it. She stood in the mirror, turning to the side and letting her hand slowly ghost over the bump. She took a deep breath and stepped into the bathroom, turning the shower’s spray on hot and stepping into it. The comfort of the warm water seemed to break an emotional dam in her and Darcy put her hand on the wall, letting sobs shake through her. In her mind, she knew that it was a little much to expect that he’d have a reaction ten seconds later, but some romantic part of Darcy’s mind had held out hope that he’d sweep her into his arms, say he was overjoyed, and kiss her. _Hm,_ she scoffed to herself, _that’d be a Christmas miracle indeed_. She stood in the shower a long time, grateful for the Tower’s unlimited hot water supply. By the time Darcy stepped out, her fingers were wrinkly and she couldn’t tell the tears from the shower water. She toweled off and slipped naked into bed, laying on her back with a hand on her abdomen,

“Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”

 

The next day, Darcy decided to go on like nothing had been said. She still got up early to make breakfast for the Tower’s residents, whomever that may be that morning. Clint shuffled in once she had a full pot of coffee on and just took the pot with him to the table, snagging a mug on his way. Darcy grabbed another coffeepot and started the machine going again; the third time Clint had stolen the actual coffeepot she’d realized it was just easier to have two on hand all the time. She made eggs, bacon, and pancakes for everyone, ignoring as her stomach seemed to turn at the smell. She’d miraculously managed to avoid morning sickness so far, but she didn’t think she’d feel out of the woods for that until she actually gave birth. As she flipped a pancake, she felt Natasha’s hand trail across her back to tell Darcy the woman had entered the kitchen. They’d decided that was better than when Darcy would turn around to find the Black Widow behind her and drop whatever she was holding. She put the second plate of bacon on the table just as Steve walked in, his terrible bedhead and tight shirt making Darcy bless America just like she did every morning. He put a couple pancakes on his plate and pulled his syrup out of the cupboard, the kind he’d bought from the farmer’s market he’d found on his cross-country trip. No one else was allowed to touch his blueberry syrup. Period. He looked up with a smile,

“Smells really good, Darcy. Thanks.” He said before tucking in. She nodded,

“You’re welcome. I’m going to go wake Her Royal Science Highness.” Darcy walked down the hallway and knocked on Jane’s door, “Janey? Janey Janey Janey. I’ve got pancakes and everything. Come join the living.” Darcy heard a thump from the other side of the door, which meant that Jane had just fallen out of bed. She’d join them in a couple minutes. As Darcy stepped back into the kitchen just in time to pull the plate of cookies away from Clint and replace it with a plate of strawberries, Steve asked,

“Where’s Tony?” Tony had recently become a regular fixture at breakfast. Once he and Darcy had started getting serious-er, he’d made an effort to be up for breakfast instead of sleeping until two in the afternoon. Darcy shrugged,

“Probably on a science bender. He’s overdue for one anyway.” She did her best to seem unconcerned, but Natasha gave her a suspicious look, which she did not reply to. Let them think she and Tony were fighting; for all she knew they were. There was a thunderclap outside and Jane came racing down the hall, jeans half buttoned and still wearing her pajama top,

“Thor?” And sure enough, Big Blond and Beefy stood on the landing pad Tony had installed. He came inside and had barely set down Mjolnir before Jane was in his arms, her legs wrapped around his waist. He kissed her with the kind of passion that had Clint pulling a face and pouring himself another cup of coffee from his private coffeepot. Finally, when Jane had to breathe, the two pulled apart and Thor finally got a look at the rest of the team.

“Ah, friends! It is good to see you.” He nodded at Clint and Natasha, who had both made it clear they weren’t down for the kind of bone-crushing hugs Thor gave. Thankfully, Darcy was always down for those hugs. Normally. When she wasn’t pregnant. But as Thor approached her, his arms spread wide, he paused and looked her up and down, then a terrible look crossed his face, “Who has dishonored you, my shield-sister?”

“Huh?” Darcy asked, but she knew exactly what this was about. Thor hadn’t been to Earth since she’d gotten pregnant. Fuck. He stepped forward and seemed to inspect her, looking for any sign of ill treatment. Natasha watched, a tiny crease in her forehead. Clint, who was still in the throes of pre-caffeine exhaustion, said,

“Thor. She’s good. Darcy, you’re fine, right?”

“Of course I’m fine.” Darcy said, rolling her eyes. Thor stepped back, satisfied that she wasn’t hurt but still looking very disapproving.

“She is not hurt, but she is to be treated with care.” Thor said. Clint huffed,

“She tasered you. The god of thunder. I don’t know that I’d exactly call her fragile.” Thor nodded at the archer’s words,

“Ay, in normal circumstances she would be a most fierce warrior, but all in her condition must be treated with care.” Darcy saw the exact moment that Natasha put the pieces together. The assassin stood up and left the room in carefully measured steps. Jane was still frowning at her boyfriend and best friend, Clint seemed to be realizing that something might be wrong with Darcy and was growing tenser and tenser. Steve to finally ask the question; Darcy was a member of their little Avengers family and that meant she was his family and he’d be damned if something was going wrong on his watch,

“What condition?” Thor frowned,

“Do you not know? It is obvious.”

“Not that obvious, big guy. No one else knows.” Darcy said quietly.

“Have you not told your friends that you are with child?” Clint did a spit-take and Jane’s eyes about popped out of her skull. Steve choked on his pancakes. Thor continued without noticing their reactions, “You are past the safe threshold and a miscarriage is very unlikely at this point. Surely the father has explained his intentions to your family.”

“My family’s dead, dude.” Darcy said, doing her absolute best to push down her embarrassment and shame. Not shame for her situation, but shame that she hadn’t told her friends. Jane looked hurt and Clint looked a mixture of confused and angry. Thor grinned widely and gestured at the room,

“Not at all, Lady Darcy! We are your family. Have you introduced the others to your intended?”

“No, she has not.” Jane said. Darcy looked at the expressions in the room, varying from hurt to confusion to anger, and one thing she did not feel like handling was this. She shook her head,

“I’m going to go get Natasha before she murders some poor minion.” She walked into the elevator, saying to JARVIS, “J, where’s Natasha at?”

“Miss Romanoff is in Sir’s lab.”

“Fuck.” Darcy said, “Take me there?”

“Of course, Miss Lewis.” The elevator seemed to move a little slower than normal and JARVIS spoke again, almost sounding hesitant, “If I may speak candidly, Miss Lewis?” Darcy wrinkled her eyebrows and looked around at the shining walls, shrugging,

“Permission granted?”

“I am glad of your condition. Sir has often called me his creation and I look at the fetus as a…a younger sibling.”

“Oh.” Darcy said. Of all things, she’d never thought that JARVIS would think of her baby as a sibling. But it did sort of make sense. In a way, all of the bots were Tony’s babies. Darcy felt tears gathering in her eyes and she hurried to wipe them away, “Thank you, JARVIS. I’m glad that they’ve got a big brother.”

“Agreed, Miss Lewis.” The elevator arrived at the lab floor and Darcy walked out and wasn’t all that surprised to find Tony on one side of the lab, arms crossed, with Natasha on the other side, also with arms crossed, each staring at the other. Darcy looked between the two of them then sighed in frustration,

“Okay. Natasha, I appreciate you coming down here and intimidating the crap out of Tony and I promise if I need you to kick his ass I’ll let you know, but for now he hasn’t done anything. Could you just give us a sec?” The assassin stared at Tony a moment longer, then finally broke eye contact, leaning over and giving Darcy a hug,

“Remember, we all will protect you. It doesn’t matter if he built the building, you have the right to stay wherever you want. Tell JARVIS if you need someone and we’ll come. He’s not your only family.”

“Thanks Natasha.” Darcy said, feeling tears in her eyes again. Natasha stepped back and nodded once, threw a glare at Tony over her shoulder, then proceeded to the elevator and left. Darcy turned back and suddenly the tension in the room seemed to ratchet up. She wiped at her eyes and let out a short laugh, “Between Natasha and JARVIS, they’re determined to make me cry.”

“What’d JARVIS do?” Tony asked, frowning. Darcy shook her head,

“Nothing. Just being nice.” But Tony was totally prepared to jump on any other conversation topic aside from the big one in the room. He spoke,

“JARVIS, what did you do?”

“I held a private conversation with Miss Lewis.”

“I can tell. What did you talk about?”

“If sir is confused, I can provide a definition of the word ‘private’.” The AI said. Darcy laughed and Tony was utterly befuddled.

“That’s cold, JARVIS. That’s downright sassy. You’re not supposed to be sassy this early.”

“I think that the extenuating circumstances warrant it.” JARVIS said. Tony sighed and rubbed a hand down his face. He hadn’t slept since Darcy had told him; there was too much to think about. His thoughts had gone back and forth, but by the time the sun started to come up, Tony had made his decision: he protected his own. He reached over to his overflowing desk, pulling a folder off the top. He handed it to Darcy. Darcy uncertainly took it, opening it. Adoption papers. It was adoption papers. Tony twirled a socket wrench between his fingers as he said,

“There’s generous compensation. You have the kid, feed it until it’s weaned, then it’s mine. You never have to see it again.” Darcy dropped the papers like they’d caught fire. At first she a deep fear sweep through her at the idea of someone taking her baby away. Then, hot on the fear’s heels, came anger. She seemed to bristle and she hissed at him,

“How dare you. You can’t take my kid. So take your papers and shove ‘em up your ass.”

“Well if you don’t want it, I don’t know that it really counts as taking it.” Tony spat, advancing on her. Darcy looked at him and shouted,

“You think I don’t want it?”

“You said you weren’t sure what you wanted to do!” Tony said.

“I lied,” Darcy said, making sure her words were clear and calm. Tony looked confused and Darcy clarified, “about not knowing what to do. I’m keeping it. I’m fourteen weeks.”

“Fourte—“ Tony seemed to not believe his ears. Darcy nodded, holding her ground. The anger was coming any second and right on schedule, Tony turned and fixed her with a strong gaze, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“If it was a miscarriage, I didn’t want to rock the boat. There wouldn’t have been a point in bringing it up if it didn’t…didn’t turn out.” Darcy didn’t know how she’d have ever hid it if she had miscarried. She knew that she would have been a mess and the truth would have come out. Tony’s eyes were wide,

“You didn’t tell me you were pregnant because you didn’t want to rock the boat. You…you kept coming into the lab! The lab where things routinely blow up! You were pregnant and—“

“Hold up, are you…are you happy about this?” Darcy asked, almost unable to contemplate the concept. This was Tony Stark, well-known as a playboy with daddy issues bigger than the Arctic. Tony glared,

“I’m not happy you lied!”

“No, not that. You…you want this baby?” Darcy asked, deep down afraid of the answer. Tony shrugged, saying,

“Yeah.” Like it was the most commonsense thing. Darcy couldn’t stop a grin that wiggled across her face, even when she brought a hand up to try to cover it. But she couldn’t and she laughed, happy tears gathering in her eyes. Tony’s anger seemed to slowly melt at the sight of Darcy’s tears. He pulled her close to his chest and Darcy burrowed her nose into his shirt, absorbing the familiar smell of engine oil and expensive cologne. Tony looked down at her and asked tentatively,

“And you, you’re also happy about this? Being pregnant?” Darcy nodded. Tony smiled at her, a different kind of happy smile Darcy didn’t think she’d ever seen from him. He hugged her tight and Darcy pretended not to feel the happy tears he was leaking onto her hair. He stepped back and stared down at her stomach. A hand came up and he said, “Can I?”

“Of course. This is half your handiwork, after all.” Tony put his hand to her abdomen. Darcy put her hand over his, “It’s too early to feel anything, but somewhere in there is the Lewis-Stark spawn.”

“Wow.” Tony said, awe in his voice. He stared for a moment, then seemed to come back to himself. He pulled Darcy in again for another hug, saying, “No more big secrets, okay? If you even have a pregnancy scare, I want to know.”

“Well, I think we can safely avoid another pregnancy scare for another five months and change.” The two stood embraced for a moment before Tony asked,

“What did JARVIS say? Earlier?”

“He told me that he’s looking forward to being a big brother.” Darcy said with a giggle. Tony smiled and looked around,

“Aw, J, you do have a heart.”

“And it grew three sizes today, sir.” Darcy laughed at the AI’s words and Tony chuckled too, keeping an arm tight around Darcy as he leaned down to kiss her. Their little family was going to be great.


End file.
